Skip to content The Christian Response to Anger || Pastor Adam Mesa Sep 22 · 43 min ...more
September 22, 2024 · 43 min · Patria Sermons
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Adam Mesa is Lead Pastor of Patria Church and speaks to a congregation of 12,000 about how the gospel of Jesus Christ brings purpose to every life. Patria
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The Struggle with Anger 0:23 Oh, what a mistake. I ain't coming to the movies today. Middle of the week, everybody's here, but, of course, they are. How hard is it to order food? You know? There's only a few items. You you get some popcorn. You you0:34 get some soda. You get some candy. Some of you look like you shouldn't have any candy. Maybe he's off on the sweets. You know what I mean? Look at this line. What a waste of my time.0:45 Ugh. I don't even know what I'm doing here. Previews are, like, 45 minutes anyway. A waste. Now these people need to learn how to order their food. You know, you you go up, you pick out what you0:57 want, you you you give them your money, your credit card. Right? Your your PayPal, whatever it is, you take your stuff and you take your seat. It's not that hard. You give it to the the dumb Gen Z working behind the1:08 register who probably doesn't even know how to count the money anyway because they got no initiative. That's the problem. That's the reason we're in line because the kid behind the counter doesn't know what they're1:16 doing. Come on. What's the matter with you? Excuse me? Who said that? You got a problem? You got a problem? Is it you? Who's got you got a problem with me? Is there a problem?1:29 That doesn't sound like there's a problem because I don't hear you saying anything now. You keyboard warrior. Yeah. You're a big man. Yeah. Show your face next time. Alright? And by the way, the1:40 popcorn's burning. I don't know if you're aware of that. Do you not know how to cook popcorn? It's really easy. You put oil in a pan and corn. That's it. That's the recipe. You people don't smell this? You don't smell1:50 the burning popcorn? No? Nothing? Do do you believe this? You you see this? You okay with this? I can smell it from here. Are you growing the popcorn back there? Let's go. You burn the popcorn like2:02 that, it defeats its own purpose. What are you staring at? A little too smiley. Alright. Alright. Who said that? Let me see your face. Come on. Show me your face. Come on. Come on. I wanna2:14 see you. Come on. Come on. Give me a reason. I'll break your legs. I'll put them back together. I'll break them again. How about that? Look. I'm on my knees. I'm begging you. Give me a reason on my children's2:26 lives. Alright? I I I will sacrifice a year of my life just for you to say that 1 more time to my face. Come on. Nobody? Nothing? Yeah. Get out your phones. Make me go2:37 viral. Make me a star. Maybe you come see me in the movies. How about that? How about that? Yeah. That's what I thought.2:49 Hurry up, you asshole. Yeah. I'm going. I'm going. It's my time now. Alright? I'm up here now. My time to order. Thank you. Alright. I wanna get a small popcorn3:01 and a, wait a minute. How much more is the large? 50 cents. Alright. That's you know, the large is what a medium used to be, by the way. Yeah. That's why everybody's yeah. Exactly. Some of these people3:13 don't need the candy. You know what I mean? Alright. Don't worry about it. I'll get a large. No. Scratch that. Give me the hot dog. Yeah. You know what? And they no. Forget the hot dog. Too many nitrates. Give me a give3:23 me a water. A tank of water and, nachos. That's good. Can you hurry up, please? Alright. Thanks. Unbelievable.3:38 And now preview time.3:53 That's great. You talked to all of that?4:05 Why is this good at doing? Well, you know, it's fun. That's good. Yeah. Hey. In a business meeting, throwing a movie? That's great. Took 40 minutes of4:17 previews. Okay. Really? Oh my god. How do they get this made? I mean, who who who's paying for this? No. There's4:29 55 production companies. There's 10 production companies. When does the movie start? Oh, look. There's the logo now of the companies that you It's what is4:41 this? Just sign here. What are we what are we doing here with this?4:45 Like, what are we4:48 Wow. Wow. Is that a garbage bag? Slow popcorn, Billy? No. Did you buy all the popcorn? No. Does this come off?5:02 Can you can you clear your throat, like, a little a little quieter maybe?5:09 What5:12 what do who eat meals? They're serving meals? Just here.5:27 Sorry.6:24 This is anger. He will make sure the world knows anger is in control. But what you really need to watch out for is when he's out of6:35 control.7:13 You know, between me and you, I'm kind of glad he's not in the theater anymore. Anger sure is hard to be around. Sometimes it's entertaining to watch and see. But7:25 really, when you're in the crosshairs of anger, nobody really wants to be around that. You think of many movies where anger is at the center of a person's emotion. At first, the reason and the7:37 motive at which they're doing everything, anger is at the center of it. You think of the famous movie Gladiator, where a man loses his entire family and he's angry and all he wants to do7:49 is go after Caesar and kill Caesar. All it becomes about is retribution. But by the end of it, he sees a broader side of these things. Or you think of the movie The Hulk as Bruce8:00 Banner has this side of him that anger, the Hulk only comes out when he gets most angriest. And there's a famous line where he looks at some individuals and he says, you may be wondering when8:12 I turn green and how I get angry. He said the reality is I'm always angry. And really, he says, he's always ready to go. That's really an intimidating thing to be around. Have you ever been around someone8:24 where you gotta walk around on pins and needles wondering, is this the moment? Is this the thing that's gonna light them on fire? Is this the thing just like inside out where the flame is gonna come out and they're gonna8:36 be angry at everyone? I kind of felt that not too long ago. A few months back, I was on a flight headed back home to California, and there was a woman that was next to me who was probably having a little bit8:48 too many of the free drinks on the flight. By the end of the flight, she leans over at me after a 5 hour flight because I was working on my computer and I was working on a message, and she said, do you happen to be a9:00 Christian? And I thought, oh, this is, you know, this is great. She notices I'm a Christian. I just gotta have a fun conversation. I said, yes. She goes, do you happen to be, work at a church? Because she saw my9:10 computer, the things that I was doing. I said, yes, absolutely. And she said, please tell me your church's name so that I can never go to it. And she begins to angrily spill how she hates Christians,9:21 how she hates people who go to church. And by this time, I said, ma'am, we've been on a 5 hour flight. We've had minimal talk. I don't want to argue, but there was a side of me where I started getting a little angry9:32 because she started getting personal. And she said, by the way, if you're a Christian, you should have been talking to me about Jesus this whole flight. And I looked at her and said, would you want me to talk about9:41 Jesus? And she said, no, I don't. And so I was I found that I was I was in trouble either way. By the end of it, she says, I'm angry and I want nothing to do with people who go to church because my9:52 son recently became a Christian and I don't have a relationship with him anymore. At that point, I realized that her anger was really be fueled by something that was really personal and really painful. At that10:04 moment, I actually calmed down because I realized her offense wasn't with me, she was hurting. And a lot of times we got to pinpoint why our anger comes from where it comes from. And the only way that you can heal from10:15 anger is if you address anger head on. Alright. Let's continue to talk this week for at the movies.10:28 Let's talk, further about anger. By a show of hands, you know, often in church we talk about, shame the devil and tell the truth. Okay? So I want some of y'all to shame the devil10:40 this morning, and I want to see by a show of hands, if you've been angry within the past 24 hours, raise your hand. You've been angry the past 24 okay. We're already at about a third of the room with10:52 that. Alright? If you've been angry within the past 48 hours, let me see a show of hands. Okay? We see now we're probably about 50 percent. Let's just say if you've been angry the11:03 past 72 hours, the past 3 days, raise your hand. You've been angry. Okay. I think we're almost at 70 percent of the room now. Let's see if you've been angry within your11:15 hand. Let me see here. Okay. I think we're at 90 percent of the room. Okay? So, we can just safely say within the past 7 days, almost a hundred percent of the room has dealt with11:27 anger in some way, shape, or form. Let me let me see any bold people in here. Who showed up to church angry today by a show of hands? Okay. We got some honest people. At least 50 people.11:39 And here you are. Okay? If there's any place to be angry, let it be church. Okay? But man, you see something that we all deal with on a regular basis.11:51 Some anger is sometimes justified. Have to deal with it. We're going to talk about it today, hopefully in a12:03 different lens that you have, particularly thought of before that's been in line with this series. If you brought a Bible today or you have it on your smart device or you simply want to follow along on the story. Would12:13 you turn for just a few moments to Ephesians chapter 4? We're a read out of Ephesians chapter 4. I thought it'd be12:25 appropriate as we talk about anger, we talk about the New Testament. Because the New Testament begins to speak about what it means to be a Christian, a believer, and deal with these emotions. And the12:37 Apostle Paul particularly encourages us on how to view anger, but also what anger can lead to if we don't view it in its proper place. Ephesians chapter 4, verse 25. If you guys are12:49 ready, would you do me to honor of standing for reading of God's word this morning? We do that just because we want to give God our focus. Make sure we're, you know, whenever someone of high13:00 prominence in society comes in a room, mostly everybody stands up. And we believe that the highest thing we can read today or know today is God's word and we stand for it. And here's what it says. Therefore, having put13:11 away falsehood, truth with his neighbor, for we are members of 1 another. Be angry and do not sin. I want you to repeat that for just a moment. Be angry.13:23 Be angry. And do not sin. Do not sin. There we go. Do not let the sun go down on your anger. Next verse is, and give no opportunity to13:35 the devil. So far, what we've learned is that we are encouraged to be angry and not sin. That's That's what we've encouraged to do. We've also been encouraged not to let the sun13:47 go down on our anger. What immediately that means is if you are angry and sin, or if you are angry and let the sun go down on your anger, then you give opportunity for Satan13:59 to use you, or to abuse you, or to implicate you. And so he says, let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor. Seems a little odd that we were talking about anger, but and14:11 now we're talking thief. There's a reason why. He says, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need. Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such14:23 as is good for building up, as fits for the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear, and do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God by whom you were sealed for the day of14:35 redemption. The last piece. Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamor, and slander be put away from you. Along with all malice, be kind to 1 another, tenderhearted,14:47 forgiving 1 another, as God in Christ forgave you. Amen. You may be seated today. Just a moment that whole verse that we just read. I want you to see something14:59 that begins to stand out. So what we've already noticed is there's an encouragement, for us by Paul to not be angry. Okay?15:13 Little bit for just a few moments. He doesn't want our anger to lead to sin. What is sin? Well, according to the word of God, the word sin is to miss the mark. It's like an archer who is shooting15:25 for a target and they miss the bull's eye. And so you're missing the mark. You're missing Who's our mark? Our mark is holiness and God. Our mark is God's way. And so he says, anger can make you miss the mark.15:37 And then what he begins to do is he goes to a place where then he says that, he says, don't give any opportunity to the devil. But then it's odd because then he jumps over here and he says, let the thief no15:49 longer steal, but rather let him labor and do something honest. It seems a little odd that he would jump to that, but not necessarily when you put it into a picture. So what happens is16:00 now, he says, so that he may have something to share with anyone, and now he goes like this. He says, let no corrupting talk come out of your mouth. K?16:12 And then from that point, Paul continues to talk, and he says this, let all he says this, you were sealed, and he says, let all bitterness and wrath, and anger, and clamor, and slander16:25 be put away from you. Okay. So you'll notice, he talks about anger. He talks about not letting the sun go down on your anger. Then what does he do? He says, don't let the thief steal anymore.16:37 Then he says, let no corrupting talk come from your mouth. And then he says, and all bitterness and wrath and clamor and slander be put away. Okay. I know you're not following yet, but16:49 we're going to get to somewhere. Now, give me the blank page. So what happens is, is, what happens is the apostle Paul, as he's talking in this moment, what is he talking about? Well,17:00 what he's talking about is he talks about the thief, which what do thieves use, to steal? Is they use what? Their hands. Okay. Then when he's talking about a thief, he17:12 also encourages us that no corrupting words come out of our mouth. Well, according to the bible, what's affected when things come out of your mouth? Well, we'll see in a few moments that out of the abundance of the17:24 mouth, the heart speaks. Okay? Then what does he do? He talks about bitterness, slander, and the words. Often, where do the words live that come out of17:36 your mouth? Well, they live in your head. And so what Paul says in this moment is he says, anger, when you're angry, angry and anger17:48 will control your hands, your heart, and your head. So as he's talking, he says, well, what will lead you to sin? What will lead you to sin is if you allow your anger18:01 to control what you do. You will start to walk in sin when you let anger sit in your heart. You will start to sin when you let anger18:13 sit in your head. Anger is 1 of those emotions that Have you ever been sad before and a and a friend makes a joke even when you're crying and you're sad and and you'll laugh? You're like, oh,18:25 that was funny. Or you've been very anxious before and maybe you're anxious about something, going on a flight or something, and and then maybe, you know, sometimes we'll get, you know, we'll be up in the air and our18:36 plane will shake and my wife will start getting anxious, and then I'll just put my hand on her hand, and and she'll be calm. But when you're angry, it don't matter what happens around you.18:48 You're just angry. It doesn't Anger doesn't tend to let room in for anything. You could be sad and you could still laugh. You could be anxious and you could still be calm somewhat. But when you're angry,19:01 you are angry because anger is 1 of those things that it takes control of your whole person. And so today for the few moments that we have together, we're going to look at each of those, and we're going to see19:13 how we can handle those. So if you're taking notes, the first 1 we're going to look at is see how important it is to make sure that when we're angry, we temper our hands. Found19:24 in, in Psalms, chapter 17 verses 6 to 8. It says this, I call upon you, for you will answer me, oh God. Incline your ear to hear me. Hear my words.19:37 Wondrously show your steadfast love, oh savior of those who seek refuge from their adversaries at your right hand. Keep me as the apple of your eye. Hide me in the shadow19:49 of your wings. You know, if you were to do a study of the bible, particularly the old testament, every time that the bible somewhat tries to refer, to God's covering or God's leading, it'll use20:01 God's hand as an explanation. Because what happens is, is when God's guiding you, there's this feeling that God's hand is with you. And so what happens is, we see that the20:12 Apostle Paul talks about anger, and not letting it lead us to sin, and it not letting lead us to a place where the sun could go down. Because what will often happen is when you get angry, the first thing it'll enter is20:24 your head. And when you're angry, you continue to replay it, you replay it, you replay it, you replay it. And if you keep replaying it enough, it'll start to impact your heart.20:36 Now, you actually start feeling some type of way. Now, you actually start convincing yourself of an alternate reality. You start convincing yourself of how you think you really feel, or you start to convince yourself how20:48 it's justified, and you start to hold on to this into your heart, eventually, what will happen is it will guide to your actions, your hand. And what we do know about the word of God is21:00 what you reap and what you sow is what you will reap. So if you start to sow anger, if you start to sow arguing, if you start to so being21:12 justified for the way that you act or what you do, then you will immediately reciprocate that what it is that you are handing out. And anger is 1 of those things that you will rarely find21:24 yourself winning when you are angry. You are almost always losing. Because anger does that to us. It it takes us to a place where21:36 it's trying to move our actions against the grain, against God's hand. And the moment we step out of God's hand and we take it into our own hands, that's often where you find yourself in a lot of trouble.21:48 So I want you to see, what it looks like, where it really sits in our heart because this is something you really need healing for. Because the longer it lives in the heart, the longer it will control your hands22:01 and your head. So what do I do when this thing, it lives in my heart? Well, Jesus tells us according to Luke chapter 6 verse 45, the good person out of the good22:12 treasure of his heart produces good. The evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil. Then he says, for out of the abundance of the heart, his mouth22:24 speaks. Or counseled people that had, 1 too many drinks 1 time and or many times, and they end up saying things or doing22:36 things that they say, that wasn't me. That was the alcohol. And then and then we always respond to say, hey, the alcohol just gave you courage to do what was inside of you. That's22:48 what it did. Ain't nothing it didn't force you to do nothing. You didn't black out. Conscience that you have, that guide that you have, if you're a Christian, the Holy Spirit that you have,23:00 that's normally speaking to you, that's normally guiding you. Well, when you're not sober anymore, and I'm not just talking about alcohol, when you're angry and you're not sober anymore, you will act like and you will23:10 think that you can say things that justifies. Well, I was angry when I said that. That don't mean nothing. Don't matter you were angry when you said that was out of the abundance of the mouth,23:23 your heart is speaking. So you can't say, oh, I was mad when I said that. I'm sorry if I'm stepping on some people's toes today, and I'm removing your excuse of what you use on a regular basis, but according to the word23:34 of God, it doesn't work. That excuse doesn't work. All you've done is you've shown your hands of card, and your hands of card is you are angry, you are hurting, you're in23:46 pain, you are insecure, you don't know what to do. And so what tends to happen, if you've ever seen a dog that's cornered before, it starts growling, and it starts getting angry, and it starts23:58 chomping. It doesn't matter if it's a Chihuahua or a Rottweiler. When they're in a corner, they do the same thing. And when you and I exemplify as much anger as we do, you think that we think24:10 that it's justified. Oh, they're angry because they're justified to be upset. No. What we think is, what are they insecure about? What is it they feel like they are out of24:21 control? Because here's the beauty about God, and I and I love that God gives us permission to exercise our emotions. Because Ephesians 4 doesn't say, the Christian no longer gets angry.24:34 You would think that's the case. I mean, Jesus tells us to turn the other cheek when someone does us wrong. So you would think God would say, hey, being angry has no place in the kingdom of God. But you read the old24:46 testament and the new testament, there's plenty things that make God angry. And we read Ephesians 4 and it says, be angry. Do not sin. You think to yourself, woah, what does that even mean? Well, the reality24:58 is we have all these emotions, right? Here's me and you. And so you've got all these emotions. These emotions we've been talking about. You have, you know, you have sadness. You have joy. You have25:09 anxiety. Yeah. You you you have you have, embarrassment. You have all these things. Right? You even you even have anger. Right? And so what happens is, is when they're25:21 all relatively meant to be made small, it's pretty easy to deal with. It's easy to handle. And so there are days my wife comes home and she's sad, and you know, we sit down, we have dinner, we talk25:33 about it a little bit, and then by the end of the night, she's not sad anymore. There's times that I come home with anxiety or stress, and then I spend some time with my wife or my kids. We go out to the park,25:45 we play, I come back, I go, oh, I'm pretty good now. I'm doing okay. But anger is 1 of those things that the moment it plants a seed in your heart and your head, you start to, on a25:57 regular basis, you start to give it air.26:00 Just and26:03 you everything makes you mad, right? You go to Wendy's, the fact that they messed up your your your fries were soggy, and and you asked for double cheese, and you only got single cheese, and and then you go to the26:14 grocery store, and and the clerk didn't have your favorite ice cream, and they told you they're not going to have it for a week, and then you go to work and you open the fridge, and someone got your lunch into your lunch26:24 in your work fridge, and I know some people are saying amen to that, and so you keep feeding that and feeding it, and so you just keep thinking about that stuff, and you, and you just, you start letting everything get26:33 upset. You start letting everything make you angry. And so what happens is, it just fills all the space inside of you. Now you're just angry all the time. And the thing with anger26:45 is as you're trying to have these other emotions, happiness, joy, things that are really healthy for you, well, when you filled yourself with anger, when those things try to come, nothing can sit with it.26:57 Nothing rests, and so you're wondering what's going on. And instead of going and getting with God, instead of healing, instead of figuring out why you have anger issues, instead of asking God,27:09 God, We have a course at our church we do called Freedom that'll help you discover a lot of these emotions, help you put them in the right place, help you discover where the Holy Spirit in these is in these things. But27:18 if you don't treat this with seriousness, then all you're doing every time is you're just throwing new emotions at your anger. And anger doesn't allow any space for any other27:30 emotion. So you're angry and you convinced yourself as long as my circumstances change, I won't be angry anymore. Well, guess what? Tomorrow, we're all making you angry again.27:42 Because we don't know how to deal with your anger. Because we don't know what really makes you angry. You you you think it's about the fact that no 1 listens to you, or that no one's taking you serious, or no 1 cares27:53 about you, but it is so much deeper than that. So much deeper than that. And you've been sowing anger for so long, what happens is people will just start matching your anger with their28:05 anger. So they went from being really patient with you with your anger, to actually kind of getting fed up with the anger. And so as you have been filling them up with your anger, what28:16 happens is, is they fill themselves up with the same anger. And now you get to a point where people can't get along no more. Because what happens with anger, sadness, we can all kind of28:28 put up with. We all, you know, you know there's that 1 person in your life that's just always mopey, they're like Eeyore, Just never happy with anything. You could take them to the best restaurant in all of Los Angeles28:40 and they're going to find something wrong with it. It's like, oh, well, the brussels sprouts were soggy, and it's just, you know, and my Coke was a little flat. And you're like, it was all great. What are you talking28:50 about? But we put up with that. You know, we put up with people who are always joyful. Believe it or not, I I don't, people who always have joy, they make me feel very uncomfortable. And so, when I'm around people who29:01 have a lot of joy, I I do, I put up with it a lot of times, because it's very uncomfortable. I want to see them upset sometimes. I want to see them sad, and they just never are. But we29:13 put up with that. Right? People who are anxious, just like my wife, my wife deals with anxiousness. Man, I'm always I try to be as patient as possible whenever that happens. But guess what? Anger,29:26 nobody has patience for. If you're going to be angry all the time, you're going to isolate yourself from relationships. You're going to lose a lot of relationships that you're going to be sober 129:38 day, and you're going to think to yourself, how did I allow myself to get to a hardened heart where I thought everyone was out to get me, where I thought everyone was doing me wrong, and here I am, I'm on a29:49 lonely island, and I have no 1 with me. Because that's exactly what will happen when anger starts to hit your heart. And then what happens is we'll see in a beautiful way what happens as it begins to live in your head,30:01 because as it's in your heart, it will start to exemplify in your head. So we ask ourselves, what do we do when I find myself always angry in my head? Because I I had that the other day.30:13 2 days ago, I ordered something online that was very it was pretty pricey. It was a pricey investment. And it came to my doorstep, and I opened it, and the box was empty. It wasn't in there.30:26 And so I it was a pair of optical glasses, and you guys know, optical glasses are not cheap. And so I called the customer service. I'm like, hey, my glasses aren't in here. They're like, can you take a picture of it? I30:38 go, you want me to take a picture of an empty box? Yeah. I'm happy to do that. Boom. Empty box. And she goes, oh, sir. We have very detailed packaging processes,30:49 so that's not our problem. That's a problem for FedEx, UPS. You got to go to UPS and deal with this. I said, I'm sorry, what? And she goes I go, how long does that take? She goes, it could take anywhere31:01 between 8 to 14 weeks. Now how many of you guys know in the moment Oh, I was about to tear someone up. This girl had no idea the capacity of how I31:13 was about to rip her up over the phone. And she's just like, yeah. There's nothing we can do. Yeah. There's nothing we can do. And I think to myself, and I'm sure if I yelled, kicked, and screamed, I could probably get31:24 something out of the. It's the How That Always is. The people who are loudest, the people who kick the most, who scream the most, they get the most attention. They get you can go to Disneyland, have a bad experience, but31:33 they won't do anything for you. But the moment you start screaming in Disneyland, like, okay, sir. Okay, sir. Okay, sir. We'll give you new tickets. Why? Because we respond to anger. Anger creates a response. So I had to31:45 make a decision with that girl. I'm like, she's just doing her job. I'm going to hang up the phone, because I was mad as you can believe. And what happens is, you got to make a decision that as it lives in your head, am31:55 I going to gate keep this? Am I going to let this leave my lips or not? You're your own gatekeeper with your anger. You're your own gatekeeper when it leads to sin. You're your own gatekeeper32:07 because what happens is Apostle Paul says in Ephesians chapter 4, if you don't gatekeep your anger, then you as a believer, it will lead to something where you will grieve32:19 the Holy Spirit himself. Where the Holy Spirit will be a spectator towards your anger and go, oh, that's my baby. Oh, no. Yeah.32:31 She's with me. Yeah. He's with me. They know better than that. The world This is the reason why this is in the new testament, not the old testament. Because the world knows how to be angry.32:45 Jesus Christ knows how to heal. And so the moment you choose to follow Jesus and you choose to follow the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords and the Prince of Peace, what happens is you give up your rights and32:56 privileges to hold on to your anger. You you don't give up your rights and privileges to be angry, but you give up your rights and privileges to hold on to it. I have a dog.33:08 There are times he gets and he'll, like, he'll catch a mouse or a bunny or something like that, but I don't let him keep it. He's just a dog. So he'll go and about, but but when I see it, he's gotta release it. If he33:17 doesn't, he's gonna be in trouble. And when you when we're angry, God's saying, it's okay. It's gonna happen. Anger's gonna happen, but you better release it. Because if you don't release it, then you don't reflect being33:27 a child of God. If you hold on to it, you reflect the world standard of how they do things. I want you to see what Peter says. First Peter chapter 3 verse 8 says this, finally, all of you have33:39 unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind. So someone may ask, what's the path towards33:51 getting rid of this anger, releasing this anger? Well, according to first Peter, the path is having the humility of mind. Being humble. Humility is the opposite of a34:03 right to be angry, Because when you're angry, you think more of yourself. You think more of your issues. You hold on. You justify why you can hold on to it. You justify why you don't need to forgive. You justify why you34:15 don't need to love. You justify why it was okay for you to say or do the thing that you did. But humility says, I don't have any right. Humility says, I don't I don't have any right. I don't have a34:27 right to hold on to this. So what Peter says, he says a humble mind, but I'm going to take it a little deeper because humble mind in English isn't even the accurate depiction of what it means to have a humble mind. What34:38 he actually uses is he uses a Greek phrase, tepeinos, which tepeinos, the very definition is to be God reliant. So when he says that you and I are called to34:50 have a humble mind, he says you and I are called to have a God reliant mind. A mind that is fully reliant on God. It's not just humility that's35:02 like, oh no, you know, no, I don't need applause. Oh no, I don't need attention. A God reliant mind is someone who goes, yeah, I mean, I have every right to be upset. I have every right to be35:13 angry. I have every right to get right with those people, but I rely on God. So I don't need you. I don't need you. My mind is reliant fully on God, and it's a35:25 comparative term that opposes self reliance to God reliance. And so you will grieve the Holy Spirit when your life, when your emotions go from a line on God to reliant on35:37 yourself. That's what grieves God. What grieves God is as it leads to sin, or what leads to us is that anger will actually show man and show God, I don't need God.35:49 I got this. And that's what grieves God. What grieves God is not that you were upset. It's that by your actions and what placed in your heart and your words, you have shown God, you36:01 have shown the Holy Spirit, and you have shown others that yeah, I'm a person who loves Jesus, I'm a person who goes to church, I'm a person who worships God, but when the rubber meets the road, I don't actually need36:11 him. I have myself. I don't need him to justify. I don't need his hand to guide me. I don't need his hand to cover me, because I got the right words to say to my spouse when I'm angry.36:23 I got the right words to say to my coworkers when they offend me. I got the right words to say to my neighbor when they when they mess up my side of the lawn with their stuff. I I got the right words. I got the right36:34 words to the server when they mess up my order. God God may have words, but he don't have my right words. God may do something, but how long is that gonna take? I need action right36:46 now. I I need to be justified right now. And so there the Holy Spirit is there as you're a believer and he's filled you, and he's watching this whole thing, and he's trying to talk to you. He's trying to reel36:58 you back, he's trying to hold you back. You're like, no Holy Spirit, I got this. And he's grieved. He's like And so what happens is when we grieve God,37:10 it's a place where we say, I'm self reliant. I can do this. So the beauty is that there's a promise that as you and I get to a place of being fulfilled with our emotions,37:22 as you may in your life, you may feel like you're full of anger, but we need to go to a place where we're filled with humility. Not just a humility of thinking like, oh,37:34 I don't I'm okay. I'm just a humble person. It's a humility that's I rely on God. I rely on Jesus. I don't need to get involved in that. I got people always ask me all the time, hey, I heard this about you, Pastor Adam.37:46 Do you have a comment on that? Like, man, I got no comment on that. I rely on Jesus. I don't you don't need a comment on that. Someone may come after you 1 day on on your DM's. You may, you know, you may be struggling37:57 with relationships, and you find yourself on Facebook, and you think, okay, someone's talking about me. I need to get on them comments on Facebook. I need to get in them DMs. I need to do an email thread to everyone, or38:08 I need to get in a family group text, and really what you needed to say is, God's got me. I'm a love my fruit show. I'm a walk in forgiveness. I'm a walk in love. Now, there may be times you38:20 got to speak something in truth, but that's why you got to check and gate keep yourself to say, is this a righteous anger, or is this an unholy anger that I'm holding on to? Because there is such thing as a righteous38:30 anger. You you may have to get upset about some things, but you doing it in a way that it's a holiness, it's a conviction, and it's not a place that you feel like you're defending yourself, or you're justifying yourself.38:42 And so as we find ourselves in a place of oftentimes getting angry, the question is, do you hold on to it for a moment and pass it to God? Do you put it in its same size range as all the other38:53 emotions or do you blow it up every single day? Do you feel yourself every day? And if you find yourself feeling it every day, it might be time for you to go to God and say, God, help me discover39:05 what it is that's actually making you angry. Help me to because it has nothing to do with whatever you think it is. There is something deeper that is causing your anger on why you feel like you have to39:17 protect yourself by showing your anger every time. And that, you need to heal and you need to give to the Lord. That you need to ask Jesus to come and grab a hold of because it will absolutely take control of your39:29 life, and it'll tear things down in your life. And so I want to invite you today as we close. Next week we're going to close and we're going to talk about39:41 joy, but as you struggle with many things in your life, you may struggle with grief, you may struggle with anxiety, you may struggle with fear, you may struggle with anger. I love the beauty about whatShow more In this video 0:00 The Struggle with Anger
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